Handling arrangement for bobbins and the like



Nov. 3, 1959 R. M. lNGHAM, JR., ET AL 2,911,083

HANDLING ARRANGEMENT FOR BOBBINS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ROBERT M. INGHA JR. RICHARD FERGUS By JAMES L.BROWN ATTORNEY Nov. 3, 1959 R. M. INGHAM, JR., ETAL 2,911,083

HANDLING ARRANGEMENT FOR BOBBINS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

RICHARD FERGUSON F/6.-4- By JAMES L. BROWN ATTORNEY ROBERT M. INGHAM, JR.

Nov. 3, 1959 R. M. INGHAM, JR., ETAL 2,911,088

HANDLING ARRANGEMENT FOR BOBBINS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG-6- IN V EN TOR.

ROBERT M. |NGHAM,JR.

RICHARD FERGUSON BY JAMES L. BROWN ATTORNEY United States Patent HANDLING ARRANGEMENT FOR BOBBINS AND THE LIKE Robert M. Ingham, Jr., Spartanburg, S.C., and Richard Ferguson and James L. Brown, Charlotte, N.C., as-

signors to Deering Milliken Research Corporation,

Pendleton, S.C., a corporation of Delaware Application January 2, 1957, Serial No. 632,123

17 Claims. (Cl. 19833) This invention relates to bobbin or quill hold-down arm arrangements, particularly in combination with feed chutes of the type arranged for feeding or delivering articles such as quills or filling bobbins, having an enlarged head at one end of an elongated barrel and being fed in single file alignment while hanging from the heads thereof; and more particularly to an improved arrange-- ment for a hold-down arm and feed chute arrangement of this sort which may advantageously be employed in veyor having a pair of spaced-apart inclined conveyor belts forming an open-bottomed feeder trough such as dis-q closed in co-pending applications Serial No. 411,480, filed,

February 15, 1954, now Patent No, 2,854,730 and Serial No. 482,077, filed January 17, 1955, now Patent No. 2,832,458 may be used to particular advantage for posi- .tioning such bob-bins in single-file alignment and feeding themto a chute structure for delivery to a yarn cleaning or stripping device. In order to employ this conveyor most efiectively, it should be operated so that the feeding rate or speed ofthe aligned bobbins is rapid enough to carry off each bobbin to the delivery chute as soon as it is aligned and thereby maintain the conveyor means continuously active in positioning succeeding bobbins for feeding.

However, when the bob-bin feeding rate is sufiiciently rapid for operation of the conveyor means to best advantage, difficulty is often encountered in handling the delivery of the bobbins to the cleaning device, because the conveyor is characterized by an upwardly inclined disposition and the delivery chute is normally inclined downwardly therefrom to direct bobbins received from the conveyor by gravity to the cleaning device, so that a change in direction of the rapidly fed bobbins must be effected at the chute entrance and a constant tendency of the bobbins to become misaligned and to jam during this change in direction must be overcome. The confining means should be arranged to accommodate freely the articles being fed so as not to impede the feeding; and it is of great advantage to employ a confining arrangement which will not only confine the properly aligned bobbins or quills but which will also tend to align partially aligned bobbins, and which particularly permits the movement therepast, or the movement completely out of the chute, of any bobbins or quills which are so grossly misaligned or misplaced as to other wise pose a serious threat of jamming the quills as they move into engagement with the confining means.

It is accordingly an important object of this invention to providean effective confining arrangement particularly 2,911,088 Patented Nov. 3, 1959 adapted for use in combination with a downwardly directed chute and upwardly directed feeder conveyor as described above wherein the arrangement not only serves to guide quills or bobbins during their change of direction from the upwardly directed feeder conveyor onto and down the downwardly directed chute but which also is so arranged as topermit free discharge or passage thereby, substantially without jamming, of grossly misaligned or misplaced bobbins or quills particularly such as doublestacked or telescoped bobbins or quills (i.e. where the small end of one bobbin is lodged in the large end of another bobbin), or the like, and also bobbins having extra large bunches of yarn remaining thereon, such being known in the art as pieces.

It is a further object to provide an apparatus which is not only effective to confine bobbins, quills or the like during a change of direction in the conveying path therefor and which permits the passage thereby of grossly misplaced, misaligned or overfilled quills, bobbins or the like, but which also has provision for actively removing and discharging grossly misali ned or misplaced bobbins or quills (including pieces) or the like, as well as having provision for the seating of bobbins which are riding slightly high by virtue of support between two adjacent bobbins and which are not seated by the confining means first mentioned.

Still a further object is the provision of an apparatus wherein grossly misaligned or misplaced bobbins, quills or the like areactively discharged from a conveyor, particularly a gravity feed chute.

Still a further object is the provision of an apparatus for properly seating slightly high riding objects, particularly quills, bobbins or the like, which are supported in a slotted chute between two adjacent bobbins or the like as by the ring ferrules on filling bobbins or quills.

According to the present invention an arrangement is provided by which a predominant portion of articles being fed rapidly thereto can be handled effectively for orderly delivery, while allowing any of the articles that resist such handling undulylto escape immediately from the chute and thereby avoid interference with the other articles. Briefly described, in a preferred embodiment of the invention an arm member is disposed above and adjacent the upper end of a pair of spaced-apart inclined slide members which form a slot for receiving and slidably supporting articles being fed by their heads in single file alignment, the arm member being pivotally mounted on a substantially horizontal axis and also laterally swingably movable against the resilient centering action of a pair of compression springs which normally tend to hold the arm member in vertical alignment with the center of the slot and the single-file alignment of articles being fed. The arm member reaches from its pivot point downwardly toward the lower slide member ends so as to ride the heads of the articles as they are received at the upper ends of the slide members and thereby guide and position them properly for delivery movement to the lower end of the slide, while remaining yieldable, however, both vertically and laterally to allow escape adjacent the upper slide member ends or passage thereby of any articles that resist positioning unduly, as noted above.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the holddown arm is also arranged to collect successively the rapidly fed articles as they are received by the feed chute and retains a progressive group of these articles beneath the pivoted arm member adjacent the upper end of the slide member so that each successive article of this group is released only upon displacement from beneath the arm member by the feeding pressure of succeeding articles at the rear of the group and is thereby controlled, despite the rapid feeding rate of the articles being received, to be delivered by gravity in an orderly manner at the lower end of the feed chute, as to a bobbin or quill cleaning or stripping device.

Disposed beyond the lower extending end of the holddown arm means in the form of a pair of tapered positively driven rolls, disposed above and aligned with the chute, there are provided two rotatably driven kicker discharge rolls which actively remove and discharge any high-riding bobbins which pass by the hold-down arm and which are not discharged of their own accord before reaching these positively driven rolls. The rolls are preferably so disposed above the chute as to permit slightly high riding bobbins which are otherwise properly aligned and may be properly seated through slight further action thereon, to pass therebeneath without discharging the same. These bobbins which are only held above their normal seated position by support between two adjacent bobbins are then properly seated through the action of an overhead resiliently movable retarding means in the form of a weighted depending ball. The ball tends to retard the slightly high-riding bobbins thus permitting the immediately preceding supporting bobbin to move slightly ahead in the normal feeding action thereof, whereupon the slightly high-riding bobbin is then unsupported on its forward side and is thus in a. position. to properly seat itself either substantially immediately in the event that bobbins having no ferrules thereon are employed or slightly thereafter upon the bobbin pushing the ball ahead somewhat and moving slightly therebeneath.

The preferred order of arrangement of the various individual. elements of the overall combination apparatus, is in the sequence given inthe foregoing briefdescription, namely the downwardly extending pivotally mounted arm, the discharge rolls, and then the depending seated ball, although other sequences may be desirable in some instances;

'Still' other objects and many attendant advantages and features. of the invention willbecome apparent from a reading of the following detailed description of a, preferred embodiment. and several modifications according to the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematicperspective view illustrating a preferredembodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a similar perspective view illustrating the lateralmovement of the hold-down bar during passage thereby of a telescoped bobbin.

Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating several quill or bobbin conveying defects which are handled and taken care of by. the instant invention according to the preferred embodiment thereof. i

Figure 4 is a schematic side elevation illustrating further quill or bobbin conveying defects which are handled by the preferred embodiments of the invention.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate in fragmentary schematic section two modifications of the pivotal mounting arrange; ment for the hold-down arm.

Referring in detail to the drawings, a feed chute 19. comprising a pair of vertically disposed side plates 11, 13 is arranged for use in. delivering spent quills or bobbins Q from a trough-shaped openbottomed upwardly in v cl'ined belt conveyor ls iincluding a pair of mutually inclined upwardly extending friction-conveying belts 17-of the type disclosedin the .above noted co-pending applications, as indicated in broken lines on the figures, to a stripping or cleaning apparatus indicated in broken lines at19 and having a pair of driven bobbin conveyor belts 29, which stripping apparatus may desirably be of a .type such as disclosed in US. Patent No. 2,149,788 to .I. E. Kimbirl. The vertical sideplates 11, 13 of the feedchute lOhave downwardly sloping upper edges 21, 23 w h ich serve to slidably support the. enlarged head. end of the depending quills Q for sequential progressive downwardly movement in the slot formed between the two. side plates 11 and 13. The slot formed between the two side plates.

11, 13 of the chute 10 is disposed in alignment with the slot formed between the two mutually inclined spacedapart continuously driven belts of the conveyor 15, and the chute 10 thus serves as a gravity conveyor between the dynamic friction-conveying belt conveyor 15 and the stripping or cleaning apparatus 19, which also has its entrance slot in alignment with the slot between the plates 11 and 13. The side plates i1, 13 each also serve to prevent successive lateral tilting of the bobbins Q in order to alleviate the occurrence of alternate tilting or chopsticking of the depending bobbin barrels, which would materially impede the entry of the bobbins into the quill stripping apparatus 19. In order to maintain rigidity in the side plates 11 and 13 an angle bar or other brace member 25 may be longitudinally arranged and secured to the outer surfaces. of each of these side plates, if desired.

As will be apparent to one skilled in the art the plates 11 and 13 may be suitably mounted on any desired framework as on the entrance end framework of the stripping apparatus 19, and since such is only a matter of choice and conventional mechanical skill the particular mounting arrangement therefor will not be described in detail.

The bobbins Q usually reach the delivery end of the belt conveyor 15' spaced from one another at more or less irregular intervals, this spacing normally being an indeterminate variable depending upon the rate at which bobbins Q are supplied to the conveyor belts 17 for alignment and feeding.

chute 1t) and special provision must be made for receiving and handling these rapidly traveling bobbins Q in the feed chute ill for delivery to the stripping apparatus 19. Further, a substantial number of these bobbins Q may not be properly aligned, nor may it be possible to properly align them after they leave the conveyor 15, and it. is therefore importantthat the handling means employed heads of the bobbins Q for. positioning them properly onthe slide providing that such bobbins Q are not so grossly misaligned or misplaced as to prohibit their proper positioning in the slot formed between the side plate members 11, 13. The arm member 31 is pivotally supported on a substantially horizontal transverse shaft 33 which is in turn supported in any suitable manner in spaced-apart relation above and preferably rearwardly 0f the. entrance,

end to the chute it}, as on a bracket framework generally, indicated at 35. The particular individual mounting for the pivot support is obviously a matter of mechanical design and maybe varied as desired to fit the needs of the individual case. The spacing of thepivot support shaft 33 rearwardly of the entrance end of the chute-1d thus rovides a horizontal pivot axis for the arm member 31 in advance of the entrance end of thefeed chute it such that the arm member 31 may extend forwardly and downwardly toward the lower end of the guideway formed by the inclined surfaces 21, 23-. The arm 31 has a reach which extends in this forwardly direction such as to. extend over the slot formed between the side plates 11 and 13 for a length corresponding to several times the head diameter of the bobbins Q. Also. preferably, the

pivot axis formed by the shaft 33 is arranged ata suitable.

height relative to the chute slide surface formed. by the surfaces. 21, 23 wherebythe-pivoted. arm member 31.has

a downward inclination slightly greater than. that of the slide surfaces 21, 23 when the lower extendingend of the.

arm member 31 is disposed above the slide members at the height of the headset theseated bobbins Q.

In any case the aligned bobbins. will be travelling rapidly as they are delivered to the feed.

,5 g 1 As a result of the foregoing described portion of the arrangement, the pivoted arm member 31 actsto change the direction of the successive quills Q received from the conveyor 15 andto position them on the feed chute slide members 11,13, 21, '23, as a part of a changing group. of bobbins Q collected beneath and rearwardly of the forward end of the arm 31. This group of bobbins col-' lects beneath the arm 31 due to the slightly greater downward inclination of the arm that disposes it normally to ride directly only the leading bobbin of the group thereunder and thereby to retard the downward delivery of the progressing group of bobbins Q, from which the leading bobbin is released by the feeding pressure of succeeding bobbins fed by the belt conveyor 15. Accordingly,

each leading bobbin Q beneath the forward end of the arm member 31 is progressively released generally individually for downward delivery for gravity on the slide or chute 10. While the arm member 31 is normally disposed on the head of the forwardmost bobbin as stated above it will be apparent that in more or less frequent intermittently occurring instances the arm may be pushed upwardly orv laterally by grossly high or misplaced bobbins or. jams, in which case it will not necessarily be riding the forward most bobbin.

An adjustable stop, such as.a screw 37, is provided for the arm member 31 adjacent its pivotal mounting, for limiting the downward pivoting of the arm {member in relation to the head-height of the bobbins Q, and thereby regulate the retarding exerted by the arm member during its positioning action on the bobbins, so as to control the bobbins effectively while not impeding their downward delivery in the feed chute excessively. Normally, an adjustment of the stop 37 so that the forwardly extending end of the arm 31 may extend downwardly to a position about inch lower than the height of the bobbin heads will dispose the arm member 31 for elfective operation, although this position may require adjustment one way or the other under particular operating conditions, and the stop 37 is therefore made readily adjustable.

Because of the previously mentioned rapid feeding rate at which the bobbins Q are delivered by the conveyor to the feed chute 10 and associated pivotally mounted arm 31, it sometimes happens that certain misaligned bobbins that have notbeen completely aligned or which may be telescoped one within the other and one of which is thereby riding within the other bobbin and quite high, are delivered with the bobbins regularly feeding to the feed chute 10, or that a regularly fed bobbin will jump out of alignment upon reaching the feed chute 10 due to the rapid rate at which it'has been delivered When this happens, the misaligned or misplaced bobbing will cause the rapidly following bobbins to collect and jam unless it is either repositioned or removed promptly.

The pivoted positioning arm member 31 provided ac cording to the present invention is arranged to deal with this situation substantially effectively by being yieldable (against the influence of gravity in the preferred embodiment) for upward pivoting as well as being laterally swingable or movable to permit immediate escape or passage adjacent the upper ends of the feedchute slide member of any bobbins that resist positioning unduly as they enter the feed chute 10. To this end the slot or aperture in the pivoted arm member 31 through which the shaft 33 extends is formed sufficiently oversize as to permit the arm 31 to swing laterally as well as to pivot vertically about the axis formed by the shaft 33. In order to prop erly center the pivoted arm member31 above the slot formed between the side plates 11, 13, a pair of compression springs 39 are mounted in resilient biasing relation on the shaft 33 and extend into engagement with the lateral sides of the arm member 31 under slight pressure as through the employment of a pair of collars 43, 45 adjustably fixedly mounted on the shaft 33. It will thus be seen that the spring 39, normally resiliently hold the pivoted arm 31 in alignment with the slot in the chute games 10, and that upon lateral movement of the arm member 31 to either side of this aligned position the springs will resiliently urge the member back to its proper aligned position. It will thus be seen that the pivotally mounted arm 31 may not only move vertically on its horizontal pivot axis, but may also readily move against the resilient action of thesprings 39 to permit the ready passage or discharge of grossly misaligned bobbins as they proceed from the conveyor 15, this being a very important and highly advantageous feature of this aspect of the invention.

During normal operation a predominant portion of the bobbins Q being'delivered by the conveyor 15 will be received and positioned regularly beneath the arm member 31, and any that happen to be so disposed as to resist this positioning, such as inverted bobbins, grossly misaligned bobbins, etc., will simply be allowed to escape above the slide members 11, 13 and fall overboard where they may be collected in some suitable manner (not shown) and returned periodically to the conveyor 15 for rehandling; or if such misplaced bobbins do not escape therefrom through their own action, further apparatus for discharging such bobbins may be suitably provided above the chute 10 in order to assure discharge of such bobbins prior to theirentry into the bobbin stripping or cleaning apparatus 19.

One preferred arrangement for removing any abnormally high-riding bobbins Q which have not been discharged prior to their passage-beyond the lower end of the arm 37, such as may occur with double-stacked or telescoped, bobbins Q, or pieces Q as shown, for instance, in Figures 3 and 4, there is provided a pair of continuously driven kicker discharge rolls 47, 49 disposed in mutually spaced-apart relation above the normal path of thebobbins Q as they proceed to the guide surface 21, 23 of the chute 10. These kicker discharge rolls 47, 49 may be driven in any suitable manner, as through a pair of flexible drive shafts extending through support arms 51, 53 which may be pivotally supported about a substantially horizontal axis or axes as indicated at 52, 54 on a suitable bracket support 56 operatively connected to the general apparatus framework as may be desired. The

pivotal mounting of the arms 51, 53 permits the arms and" associated rolls 47,. 49 to be moved upwardly away from the chute 10 as may be required. This pivotal mounting 52, 54 does not permit lateral pivoting thereabout of the arms, any slight lateral movement of the arms toward or away from one another when they are in their operative position being preferably only a result of any inherent flexibility which may be present in the arms 51, 53 themselves. The pair of flexible drive shafts extending through the support arms 51, 53 may be connected to a suitable rotary drive source such as an electric motor (not shown) as through the medium of a belt drive indicated generally at 58. The kicker discharge rolls 47, 49 are each preferably conically shaped with their peripheral bobbingripping surfaces having a suitably high coefficient of friction which may suitably be obtained as through the employment of a soft rubber or other resilient surface or sub-surface which may desirably have a protective cover of polyvinyl chloride or other plastic or otherwise suitable material. This resilient gripping surface is much preferred due to its relatively gentle handling of the bobbins, quills, or the like; however, in the event that less gentle handling may be tolerated or is not of importance other types of gripping surfaces may be formed on the rollsas by employing sand paper, emery paper, or merely rolls with no surface covering.

The roll axes are preferably inclined to a vertical plane passing through the center of the bobbin holding slot in the chute 10 such that adjacent conical peripheral surfaces 47:: and 49a are substantially inclined in somewhat inwardly tapered funnel shape so as to catch therebetween bobbins which are riding above a particular height on the chute 10. The rolls 47, 49 are driven in a direction.

with their adjacent lateral surfaces moving upwardly away from the chute 10, and thereby upon contact with the downwardly riding abnormally high bobbins, such as a double-stacked bobbin, these rolls .47, 49 will grasp such high-riding bobbins and throw them upwardly and out of the stream of downwardly flowing bobbins. in the quill chute '.v Thereaften the remaining bobbins will proceed in a normal fashion into the bobbin stripping. or cleaning apparatus 19, although there may be a few slightly high-riding bobbins Q which are held in a sligthly elevated position between two adjacent bobbins both fore and aft thereof, as by interlocking act-ion between different bobbin rings r, as'indicated for example at Q Q Q wherein the slightly high-riding bobbin is indicated at Q To this end thatv such slightly high-riding bobbins Q are positioned in direct normally riding engagement on the upper slide surfaces 21, 23, there is also provided a relatively heavy ballv 55 of aluminum or other suitable material supported in depending relation adjacent the lower end of the chute 10 as through the medium of a chain 57 in turn mounted on a suitable support 59 disposed thereabove. The heavy ball 55 extends downwardly to a. position only slightly above the normal path of the heads of the bobbins Q as they proceed down the slide 10, when such bobbins are in full engagement with the downwardly inclined guide surfaces 21, 23. The bah will, however, contact the heads of any bobbins Q which may be slightly high-riding as occurs when such are supported between two closely adjacent bobbins Q Q as shown in Figure 4. Due to the considerable inertia of the heavy ball 55 the slightly high-riding bobbin Q is retarded slightly, thereby permitting the preceding bobbin Q to proceed. slightly ahead of the bobbin Q Thus, the bobbin Q may after further movement down the slide, during which movement the ball 55 is moved forwardly a. short distance, then seat directly onto upper guide surface 21, 23 of the chute 10. It will be. apparent that while a relatively heavy ball is desirable, the ball should not be so heavy as to cause undue resistance to the passage of bobbins. As an example, a ball having a weight. of approximately 1 /2 pounds and a diameter of approximately 3 inches has been found satisfactory. The provision of the ball in movable depending relation is. also advantageous in that this permits slight. movement of the ball when a large number of the bobbins Q proceed therepast during this positioning operation on a slightly high-riding bobbin Q5, such permitting the bobbins to proceed in their normal manner without unduly injuring them or jamming the apparatus.

In order to insure that the hold-down arm will be normally biased toward an exact center aligned position, irrespective of. whether the ends of the springs. are exactly diametrally even, there are illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, two modifications wherein each of the'hold-. down arms 131 and 231 is respectively laterally engaged on at least. one lateral face thereof by a disc or flange 161 which-is secured. to or forms one end of a sleeve 163 slidably disposed, on shaft 133. As seen in Figure 5 the two flanged sleeves 1 1, 163 are resiliently biased toward one another through the action of a pair of compression springs 139 each of which surrounds a respective sleeve portion 163 and engages at one end thereof a respective one of the disc flanged portions 161. The opposite ends of the. springs 139 are operatively engaged by a respective one of two selectively adjustable collars 143, 145jdisposed on the shaft 133. Due to the flat face of each of the disc flanges 161 being biased into engagement with a respective flat lateral face of the arm 131*, it will be readily apparent that the ,arm 131 will be biased in a direction substantially normaltothe longitudinal direction of the shaft 133 irrespective of the effective flatness of the end faces of springs 139..

In the modification shown in Figure 6 the biasing ar rangernent is similar to that ofFigure 5 except that. onev of the lateral springs 139 and its associated flanged sleeve 161, 163 is omitted and the laterally adjustable collar 243 is positioned with a lateral face thereof laterally adjacent the hold-downv arm .231 when the holddown arm is in its centered position. The hold-down arm 231 is biased toward. its center position on the shaft 233 through the action. of this oppositely disposed spring 239 and associated. slidable flanged sleeve 26.1, 263, with the outer end of the spring 239 being engaged by the slidably adjustable. collar 235. This arrangement may be more advantageous than the arrangement in either Figures 1 or 5 in many instances, in view of the requirement for only one spring 239 and the embodiment of the adjustable collar 243 to provide a positive centering guide for the arm 23L It will be readily apparent to those skilled the art that many further modifications and other embodiments may be constructed within the scope and spirit of this invention,.the illustrated apparatus being only illustrative and representing, the present preferred embodiment of the invention. Accordingly it is to be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited by the foregoing,

described embodiments but only by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for handling headed objects such as quills, bobbins, or the like, comprising a chute slide having an inclined upper slide surface, and a three dimensionally horizontally and vertically movable objecthold-down arm disposed above said inclined slide surface and normally extending downwardly toward said slide surface in the same general direction as the direction of inclination of said surface, pivot support means for said arm, said arm being. pivotally mounted on said pivot support means above the upper end of said slide for movement both substantially vertically and in a lateral direction transverse to the vertical, said arm being movable in said lateral direction a suflicient amount to permit upstanding stacked quills to be passed thereby along a lateral side thereof. 7

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said pivot point is disposed such that the object engaging surface of. said arm extends at an acute angle to said upper slide surfacev when" said arm is engaging a normally seated object being conveyed on said slide.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said slide comprises a pair of spaced apart substantially vertical extendingside plates the upper surface of each of which said side plates. isv inclined to the horizontal and forms the slide surface for said chute slide, the pivotal mountlng point for said arm being disposed above and in advance. of the entrance: to said slide.

4. Apparatus according. to claim 1 further comprising. at least one laterally acting spring operatively connected to said arm and actinguto resiliently center said arm in substantial alignment with. the longitudinal center of said chute slide.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 comprising a pair of oppositely laterally acting springs operatively connected to said arm andacting to resiliently center said; arm insubstantial alignment with the longitudinal center of. said. chute. slide-..

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising an open-bottomed friction-surface-conveying belt conveyor having two laterally separate substantially parallel conveyor "belts, each of said belts having a substantially unimpeded friction. conveying surface, said conveyor having. its.'discharge end disposed at the entrance to said chute slide, whereby over-feeding of said headed objects to said chute slide may be accomplished with intermittent one by one discharge. of said objects from beneath the lower end of said arm. without resultant harm to either said conveyor or the objects conveyed.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said belt conveyor is upwardly extending in the direction of object flow thereon, said slide being downwardly extending and operative under the force of gravity in conveying objects, whereby an arch is formed by and at the intersection of said belt conveyor and the upper surface of said slide.

8. Apparatus for handling headed objects suchas quills, bobbins, or the like, comprising a chute slide having an inclined upper slide surface, and a horizontally and vertically movable object-hold-down arm disposed above said inclined slide surface and extending downwardly toward said slide surface in the same general direction as the direction of inclination of said surface, said arm being pivotally mounted above the upper end of said slide for movement in a substantially vertical plane, a pair of spaced-apart kicker rolls disposed in spaced apart relation above said slide, and means for rotatably driving said kicker rolls, each in an opposite direction with the adjacent peripheral surface of each of said rolls moving in an upward direction away from said slide, said rolls being conically shaped, the adjacent peripheral surfaces of said rolls being inclined to one another to form a funnel shaped entrance for high riding objects to move into engagement therewith and therebetween.

9. Apparatus for handling headed objects such as quills, bobbins, or the like, comprising a chute slide having an inclined upper slide surface, and a horizontally and vertically movable object-hold-down arm disposed above said inclined slide surface and extending downwardly toward said slide surface in the same general direction as the direction of inclination of said surface, said arm being pivotally mounted above the upper end of said slide for movement in a substantially vertical plane, a weighted ball, a flexible connection to said ball, a support disposed above said slide, said ball being dependingly supported from said support through said flexible connection and with its lower surface disposed at a point above the normal object flow path along said slide and in subsequent flow relation to said arm.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a pair of kicker rolls disposed in spaced-apart relation above said chute slide and in substantial alignment therewith, and means for continuously rotating said rolls in a direction whereby their adjacent peripheral surfaces move upwardly and away from said chute slide.

11. Apparatus for handling headed objects such as quills, filling bobbins, or the like comprising a slide, a pair of mutually spaced-apart object-kicker-discharge rolls disposed in spaced-apart relation above said slide, and means for rotatably driving said rolls each in an opposite direction with the adjacent peripheral surface of each of said rolls moving in a direction upwardly and away and away from said slide, wherein said rolls and their adjacent peripheral surfaces are inclined to one another and to the longitudinal center of said slide, said slide surface being inclined to the horizontal.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said rolls are conically shaped, a pair of pivotally mounted curved support arms, said rolls being supported adjacent their larger ends each on a respective one of said pair of curved arms, and a flexible drive connection extending through each of said arms to the respective one of said rolls.

13. Apparatus for handling headed objects such as quills, filling bobbins, or the like comprising a slide, a pair of mutually spaced-apart object-kicker-discharge rolls disposed in spaced-apart relation above said slide, and means for rotatably driving said rolls each in an opposite direction with the adjacent peripheral surface of each of said rolls moving in a direction upwardly and away and away from said slide, wherein each of said rolls has a resilient peripheral gripping surface, the adjacent peripheral surfaces of said rolls being inclined to one another.

14. Apparatus for handling headed objects such as quills, filling bobbins or the like comprising an object flow slide having two longitudinally extending spaced apart substantially parallel object supporting and slide surfaces, and a Weighted mass having a lower substantially arcuate convex surface disposed above said slide, said mass being spaced above said slide with its lower curved surface at a height above said slide slightly greater than the height of the tops of normally seated objects conveyed on said slide, said mass being supported swingably above said slide.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said mass is a substantially spherically shaped ball.

16. Apparatus according to claim 14 further comprising an overhead support disposed above said slide, and a chain operatively connected to said support, said ball being operatively supported in laterally movable depending relation by said chain.

17. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said two spaced apart slide surfaces are formed by a pair of spaced apart substantially parallel bar rails.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,181,230 Kotkovsky May 2, 1916 1,305,328 Wilcox June 3, 1919 1,803,993 Brennan May 5, 1931 1,842,053 Small Jan. 19, 1932 2,572,164 Lehmann Oct. 23, 1951 2,790,532 Albertoli Apr. 30, 19.57 

